TOXIC ~ STEVE ROGERS [1]

Chapter Nineteen

I slipped down the hallways, looking for Rogers. When he left the lab he had a look in his eye, a look of pure determination. I jogged down the hallways until I spotted the tall broad back striding down the hall. I picked up the pace, but I didn't quite realize how fast I was actually going, and before I knew it I was beside him.

"Hey Rogers," I said tapping his shoulder.

"Here to brag, Walsh?" He said without looking at me.

"Awh come on Rogers. I didn't actually think Stark would say that. I know I'm a bit useless," I said, looking up at his handsome face.

"Are you sure about that?" Rogers said coldly, still walking. I sighed.

"Look Rogers, I know I'm not of much use. I'm not that smart, or heroic. Really, all I can do is fight and take pretty good photos. Right now, I'm just another burden on SHEILD's shoulders."

I had not meant to say that. It was true though. SHEILD had kept me here because of my father. I would probably be in some underground lab right now if it weren't for them. But I could still tell having me here was just going to be a problem.

"They called you in. How are you a burden?" Rogers asked. I cracked my knuckles, each pop music to my ears.

"I'm trouble that's why," I said harshly. Rogers didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry, I just, I wanna get out of here," I muttered as we walked. "And I wanna find out what SHIELD is hiding," I said, subtly trying to find out what Rogers wanted.

"So do I," Rogers said, finally looking down at me. We walked in silence, passing multiple agents as we went through the hallways.

"Do you think it's a coincidence that just as SHIELD is getting into the energy business, for whatever reason, they call you in?" Rogers suddenly spoke. It took me a minute to think is something to say.

"What do you mean?" I knew extwhat he meant, having thought it myself, but I wanted to hear his thoughts on it.

"Stark said it himself, your whole being is the ultimate in clean energy. SHEILD has just had their only chance at clean energy stolen. Until you," Rogers turned abruptly round a corner, to a dark hallway where there were less agents milling around.

"I don't think SHIELD is going to make me into some kind of human power plant," I scoffed, following him down the hallway. Rogers turned to face me, his face grave.

"Are you sure?" He said.

Those three words made me doubt SHEILD's intentions even more. It made so much sense what he was saying, and yet, would they really be so inhumane as to turn a person into a power source?

My face was set in a hard line, and I nodded at Rogers.
"Let's find out some secrets."

Rogers smiled at me, a genuine smile, something I hadn't yet seen. I smiled back grimly. Turning to the right, Rogers stopped outside a black door. It hadn't a keypad or visible lock on it, and I wondered if it was secured at all. Rogers looked it over.

"I can probably melt a hole in it or something?" I said, holding my hands up. Rogers ignored me, instead gripping the door in his hands and with a grunt pulling it open. My hands flopped to my sides.

"Or we could do that," I muttered, before following Rogers inside. There were signs painted on the wall of the warehouse type room. 10-C they read. It was dark, and from what I could make out filled with heavy metal crates, stacked up on one another. I could hardly see a thing, so I lifted up my right hand and it glowed greenish white, casting an eerie glow across the metal.

"See, you are useful," Rogers said slyly, walking steathily through the room.

"Shut up," I mumbled under my breath. We walked through the room quietly. I waved my hand around the darkness, spotting more crates throughout the space.

"Hey, up there," Rogers whispered, tapping my shoulder. I moved my hand upwards, and we saw a whole nother level to the space. Rogers nodded at me, and leapt forward on to the catwalk railing, hauling himself up with ease. He looked down, and held out his hand. I grinned back at him, and in one fluid movement, climbed the railing and was next to him.

Rogers looked impressed, and I was rather impressed myself.

"Good job," he said, withdrawing his hand.
"It's not the 40's anymore, Rogers. Ladies can hold their own," I smirked, wandering past him. My glowing hand shimmered over more metal crates.

"I wonder what all this is," I said, swishing over to one of the crates. Using one hand, I fire a tiny little blast at the lock. It was destroyed instantly, and the crate's lid popped open. Rogers leaned over my shoulder, curiosity written all over his face.

"Shall we?" I said, and with a florish lifting open the lid.

I gasped.
Rogers said nothing, but stared stone faced.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"You know what those are, don't you?" Rogers whispered, his blue eyes reflecting the green glow from my hands. I nodded.

"I was a weapons smuggler, Rogers. I know what high tech weapons look like. And I have never seen anything like this."

"This is not good." Rogers said quietly.

"I agree. But we can't just barge in and acuse Fury of something we don't have much evidence of. We need to wait for the opportune moment," I said, shutting the lid promptly.
Rogers turned his face to look at me.

"And when is that?" He challenged.

"When Stark's hacking program gives us the information we want," I said, walking away from the crate. Rogers laughed under his breath.

"No. We do this now," He said. I looked him in the eyes.

"No Rogers, listen to me. We wait till morning. Stark will have more information. This will be the icing on the cake," I said, cracking my knuckles again.

Everything was making me nervous. If I assumed every crate in this room contained the same weapons as that crate, then SHIELD was hiding bigger secrets than I had thought. The weapons weren't normal either. I could handle most types of guns, and these looked like they needed some kind of external power source.

Something like the Tessaract.

Or me.

"Alright, we wait. By only till the morning. No later," Rogers gave in to my suggestion. I backed up against the railing and flipped backwards off it. It had been a while since I'd done a flip off of anything, but my new speed and agility meant I pulled it off perfectly. I landed softly on the ground below, and looked back up at Rogers with a smile.

"Coming?" I asked. Rogers cocked an eyebrow at me, then jumped down from the railing.

As walked through the room to the still open door.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Rogers asked as we shut the door as quietly as we could. The door shut with a scrape and I folded my arms.

"Well, I dunno where you're going but I'm going to get some sleep. I have had enough adventures for one day," I began walking down the darkened hallway towards the lit one.

"Where am I supposed to go?" Rogers yelled after me. I spun around and shrugged.

"That's your problem Rogers. Not mine."

Authors Note
Some Keight and Steve bonding.....